Gate: Seven of Pentacles
I entered the vision gate, found a thick, wooden door, and pushed it open. Beyond the door was a lush garden with many paths made of crushed seashells which led to different points throughout the mammoth outdoor space.
Though all of the paths explored the garden by different routes, they all began at the same point, under an arched trellis covered in flowers of various types. The type of flower shifted and changed as I observed the paths’ starting point. As I moved closer to this trellis and prepared to take the path through the garden, the flowers stopped changing and settled on one genus. My starting garden flower revealed itself to be roses.
All of the paths looked the same to my eyes, so I chose one at random and continued on my way. As I walked down my chosen path, roses sprouted around me in all colors. I felt, in my heart, that this was a sign that I was still on my appropriate path, despite the lack of other special garden features to appreciate and enjoy. My path was hemmed in on both sides by a thick wall made of living roses. I couldn’t see anyone else in the garden but, occasionally, something or someone moved in the hedge walls.
I continued forward for some time until I heard a woman’s laughter ahead of me on the path and I moved towards it, my step quickening a little in my excitement to have finally encountered someone else in the garden.
The laughter led me to a tiny courtyard hidden safely among the hedges within which a female figure dressed in Grecian robes reclined on a couch. Nebulous beings made of light were brushing her golden hair. The spirit was difficult to perceive because her bright inner light obscured her features and I had to blink many times to clear her brilliance from my eyes.
When I could see again, I beheld a slightly larger courtyard that was surrounded by living walls that moved from within as if a crowd of unseen creatures were observing us and stirring their branches. Though this had been the case on my entire journey through the garden thus far, between the blinding light of the goddess and the subtle movements in the shadows around her, I began to feel ill at ease.
“Hail, Great One,” I said. “I hope I’m not disturbing you overly much.”
The spirit sat up abruptly, startled from her reverie. “Who are you and why do you come to my garden?” she said, batting away the wisps of light who, despite the goddess’ waving hands, still attempted to tend to her lovely hair.
“My name is Heidi and I’m seeking the nature of this place as well as yourself,” I said and seated myself in front of the low couch upon the crushed seashells of the garden path.
“If you would know the nature of this garden and me then share a drink with me,” said the goddess and gestured to her attendants. “Unless you’re too afraid, of course.” One of the lights surrounding the spirit came close, there was a flash, and teacups appeared in both our hands.
“I am not afraid to drink a spot of tea,” I said, admiring the porcelain of the cup in my hands. “Though it is not my beverage of choice.”
The goddess laughed at my confession. “In my garden,” she said when her mirth had subsided. “We drink my preferred beverage, not yours. I hope that’s acceptable to you.”
“Honestly,” I replied. “I really couldn’t care less about what we drink as long as we have an enjoyable time in the experience of it.” A look of understanding and companionship passed between the goddess and I and then we sipped our tea together in silence.
A bright red rose sat in the bottom of my teacup, its petals unfolding as the hot water of the beverage saturated it. As I admired the blossoming rose, I continued to hear small rustling sounds coming from the unseen audience around us as well as bird song floating through the air from deeper in the garden.
“Please speak to me of your nature, Great One,” I said, lulled by the peace and quiet of the garden. “This is such a beautiful place, I expect you know all about it. In addition, I read that this is an abode of Venus, whom I have heard has associations with the morning and evening star. I find this to be a fascinating subject and would like to explore it further with you, if you do as well.”
The goddess stilled. “I do not know if I can speak to you about my hidden nature,” she said. “However, the morning and evening star is a mystery I know quite a lot about. In fact, I have something I can show you that may answer any further questions you may have on the topic. Follow me, please.” The goddess stood, shook out her robes, and our teacups disappeared.
The spirit led me further down the crushed seashell paths into the garden. As we walked, I admired the flowering plants of the various hedges as well as the being’s mode of dress, whose details became more clear as my eyes adjusted further to her numinous light. The goddess’s robe was sparkling white and flowed in waves down her back. Along the edges of the shining cloth ran embroidered roses, their form mimicking the flower from my tea cup and the trellis entrance to the garden itself.
I followed my guide in this manner to a place where the greenery and lush growth began to fade into untended weeds and dead leaves, then the flowering plants stopped completely and gave over to depressing decay. The formerly ornate path changed from seashells to simple dirt. The sky overhead, which had once been blue, turned dark and full of racing clouds like shadows across the sun.
“Great One, I do not like the feel of this dreary place,” I said, my uneasiness returning. “Nor the shape of the sky above this area. Are you certain this is where we should be?”
The goddess turned from the path and gazed steadily at me. “If you, Heidi, wish to know more about this place as well as the stars of day and night then we should continue,” she said. “Are you afraid, young one? Do you not like your own choice of draught of self knowledge?”
As I paused for a moment in reflection, a butterfly flew across my path. I admired the way its orange and spotted wings fluttered carefree through even that desolate corner of the garden. Its courage and tenacity decided my future for me in that moment and overcame any further reservations I had. I pulled my eyes away from the butterfly’s flight and nodded my head to the goddess that I was prepared to continue down the current path. The goddess silently indicated a gap my size in the dry hedge and I passed through it into another courtyard. Someone, I assumed it was my current companion, entered behind me.
A short marble pillar topped with a large, black pearl stood in the center of the dusty dead plants of this new courtyard. As I drew near to it, the being walking behind me ran in front of me. Though she was dressed in robes similar to the goddess who had been leading me down the path, I felt immediately that this was not the same being at all.
As this new spirit approached the center of the courtyard, the flesh began to rot off of her skull and fall in disturbing clumps to the ground. As her former golden beauty was painfully stripped away, the being began to shriek in a voice like a train whistle come to life. “This my nature: rot, decay, and ruin, foolish mortal,” the imposter goddess said. “You are a fool to seek beyond initial appearances. It leads to nothing but disappointment. The morning and evening stars are not shining for one such as you and, furthermore, the knowledge and experience of their occult secrets have been hidden for very good reasons as well as a very long time.”
I shut my eyes on the ghastly sight though, if I were honest with myself, I was far more disturbed by the spirit’s haunting voice than her altered appearance. When I gathered my courage and opened my eyes again, the skeleton of the goddess was flickering in and out of my vision and took on the appearance of a broken and rotting tree. The strategically placed holes in its trunk resembled the face of an angry, old man.
“Who are you, woman, to seek the nature of creation? Who are you, helpless female, to probe its myriad secrets?” the living tree said. “Don’t you know how many countless others unworthy of this place and its beauty have passed this way?” The spirit gestured to the black pearl of the courtyard pillar which flew high into the air and smashed into pieces at my feet. “Here is your hidden knowledge, seeker. Take it and leave me in peace!”
I picked up a piece of the broken black pearl and in my fright held it so tightly in my palm that it cut my hand. Again, I shut my eyes in terror and began to pray. “Creator of All and Lords of this Realm,” I whispered. “Please allow it to be that, when I open my eyes, this demon will return to the place from whence he came and may all enmity that he brought to this corner of the garden of paradise vanish with him. Mother, hear my plea and save me from the shadow. Father, be with all who enter this courtyard from now on. Please help us all.”
I held my breath for a moment only when I finished my prayer. Then, when I opened my eyes, the decaying tree spirit was now only a gleaming statue made out of stone, standing on the pillar in place of the fragmented black pearl. The sky above me filled with early morning light and the plants and hedges that surrounded the courtyard now looked merely dead rather than filled with threatening menace.
I approached this new statue to take a good hard look at the spirit who had so frightened me. Though the entombed creature was still shaped like a tree, I saw my own reflection looking back at me from the polished stone as if in a mirror. “I wonder why asking for knowledge made him so angry,” I mused. “And I also wonder who he really was. I’ll never forget the sound of his voice for as long as I live. Maybe I can use that, one day, to find him again.”
A moment later, another being wearing a flowing blue robe entered the angry tree’s courtyard. I hesitated to speak with her as the blood trickled freely from the new cut on my hand and the pain of it still stung me. This new spirit sensed my unease immediately.
“Do not be afraid of me,” she said, “I promise I will not harm nor frighten you in either word nor deed. I am not like my brother. Not all trees are alike as not all people are alike.”
“Why was he so angry with me?” I asked. “He seemed so kind at first. Usually when I introduce myself, the spirits I meet are so helpful and warm towards me. This being was not who I believed him to be and I am unaccustomed to having my inner vision and knowing deceived.”
“Do not be downhearted, seeker,” said the spirit. “The answer to your question is quite simple. My brother does not like anyone to enter the Garden of Venus. He fears them and their questionable motives, and strives to drive outsiders away, first with kindness then with threats.” She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she gazed at the statue. “I do not want to speak his true name in this place because it may summon him again when you have so efficiently contained him within this lovely garden statuary. Call him, Old Man or Oak, as we, his family, do.” She turned with a swirl of her blue robes like a fish in water. “Come, let us leave this dark place for brighter pastures.”
I gladly followed my new guide out of the decay to a raised pool of water in a more vibrant part of the garden. The spirit in blue sat on the edge of the pool and picked a lotus flower from its surface, bringing it close to her face to smell its perfume. I sat on the pool’s edge as well.
“Great One, what is your name?” I asked, stirring the water’s surface with my fingertips. The cut on my hand disappeared beneath its healing waters as if it had never been in the first place.
“You may call me Sasha,” she replied. “I am very glad to see that the Old Man Oak only frightened you and did not throw the black pearl at your head. He has done far worse to others in my memory and I find myself weeping for their fates sometimes.”
“Ah, you have a kind heart like me,” I said. “I too sometimes cry when I hear of the misfortunes of others. Sasha, what is someone like you doing in this part of Venus’ garden with its formidable guardian?”
“My sisters and I grace this place with our beauty and flowers,” she said and shrugged. “Our mere presence gives rejuvenation to anyone who views us or speaks with us or simply enjoys our company. Our light and love balances his shadow and hatred.”
“You sound as if you were a garden of geishas,” I said, a smile spreading across my face. “Even so, if I were you, I would want to leave.”
Sasha laughed. “You have named our purpose exactly, seeker,” she said. “Why would I ever desire to leave the bosom of my family and chosen friends?”
“If you left, you could discover more of creation and perhaps learn more about reality and yourself,” I said. “You would grow larger outside of the shadow your brother casts, I bet. You might even surprise yourself at your new way of moving through life.”
“In all of my years of being, I have never wished to leave this place,” Sasha said and smiled at my suggestion all the same. “I commune with the Creator of All here and I am as large as I wish to be. Though you did not ask, I will reveal my true nature to you, seeker, for your kindness and consideration of my spiritual development.” The spirit stood, shed her blue voluminous robes, and moved to the middle of the pool of water where she turned into an enormous hawthorn tree covered in white blossoms.
I entered Sasha’s wading pool and circled my arms around the tree’s trunk, admiring her flowers. A breeze blew through Venus’ garden just then and a shower of petals fell around me from the hawthorn’s higher branches. I held my hands, palms facing up, and attempted to catch a few of the errant blossom leaves. One petal floated gracefully into my hand and I blew it away, wishing for Sasha, her sisters and I to have an everlasting peace of spirit.
Then, with a new feeling of contentment entering my own heart, I lay down in the clear water of the pool, amidst the floating lotus blossoms and falling petals, looking up through Sasha’s graceful branches to the blue sky beyond. As I relaxed and enjoyed the stillness, I started to look around my corner of that safe garden space.
I observed many pools of water nearby similar to the hawthorn’s pool in which I found myself. Each contained a flowering tree of a different kind and I imagined these were Sasha’s sisters, a family of living spirits of beauty and grace. Peace beyond my ability to describe filled my heart at the gentle beauty of the place and sight of the long line of trees, flowering together and filling the garden with their precious and priceless fragrance.
As I admired that enchanted place, Venus’ garden began to work its magic upon me. I effortlessly sprouted delicate flowers all over my body, mirroring the other denizens of those blessed and protected grounds. “I hope I don’t forget that I’m a woman and not actually a tree,” I said, looking at what was once my hands.
Then my vision ended.
The Light Congress 